- Age range
- 3–14
- Co-ed status
- Mixed
- Number of students
- 198
- Day / boarding
- Day & boarding
- Religious affiliation
- Church of England
- Average fees
- Day £17,700 · Boarding £30,905 (annual, inc. VAT)
- Has a nursery
- Yes
How the school describes itself
- Sherborne Prep is curious, compassionate and character-forming.
- Its own language stresses confidence, curiosity, kindness and a sense that children are being prepared not just for senior school but for life beyond it.
- The tone is warm, polished and very consciously values-led.
Fee profile
Annual fees including VAT. 2025-26.
Reception£9,000
Year 1£9,000
Year 2£9,000
Year 3£18,000
Year 4£22,500
Year 5£22,500
Year 6£22,500
Year 7£23,400
Year 8£23,400
Year 3£29,100
Year 4£29,100
Year 5£29,100
Year 6£29,100
Year 7£29,790
Year 8£29,790
Year 3£31,890
Year 4£31,890
Year 5£31,890
Year 6£31,890
Year 7£33,660
Year 8£33,660
Parents like
- A strong candidate for parents who want a prep with warmth, structure and unusually clear links into an established senior-school ecosystem.
- The attraction is the blend of confidence-building pastoral care with serious preparation for what comes next.
- It should appeal to families who want a nurturing co-ed prep that still feels highly strategic about onward transition.
Admissions
Sherborne Prep's admissions message is warm but organised. Families are encouraged to visit, enquire early and understand the school within the wider Sherborne Schools Group, making the process feel like entry into a clear educational culture rather than just a one-off prep-school purchase.
Scholarships
Financial support is clearly available. Sherborne Prep advertises means-tested bursaries and allows those to sit alongside scholarships and exhibitions where appropriate, which gives families both access support and visible recognition of talent.
Bursaries
Sherborne Preparatory School publishes financial support information and says bursaries are awarded on completion of a means-tested process. The school also says awards are subject to regular review.
- Families should check the published bursary deadlines for the relevant September entry.
- A means-tested bursary route is published, but no fixed remission cap is published.
- Parents are directed to a secure bursary application portal and should expect a means-tested assessment with regular review.
Inspection snapshot
The current formal benchmark is recent and visible. Sherborne Prep publishes a 2024 ISI inspection, which gives parents a contemporary external reference point for a school that is putting renewed energy into its identity, values and role within the wider Sherborne family.
Assessment approach
Assessment at Sherborne Prep is designed to be broad in the earlier years and increasingly purposeful as pupils move towards 13+. The school's public emphasis on core skills, scholarship success and senior-school readiness suggests a prep that tracks progress carefully while still trying to preserve curiosity and confidence.
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